Jessica DiCicco on Finding Her Voice and Surviving Rejection in Voice Acting

Success in voice acting can look easy from the outside. Fans hear their favorite characters, see voice actors at convention appearances, and assume the path was straightforward. Jessica DiCicco’s story proves otherwise.

During a recent Voicelings Legends Live with Tara Strong, Jessica shared the journey that took her from a nervous six-year-old who couldn’t make it through an audition to becoming one of animation’s most recognizable voices. Along the way, she learned to embrace her own magic, navigate rejection, and build a successful voice acting career that continues to grow. 

Want to hear the full story? Watch the Legends Live session with Tara and Jessica here. 

The Voice She Once Wanted to Hide

Jessica’s first audition did not go well.

At six years old, she was too nervous to even walk into the room. Like many aspiring performers, she didn’t begin her career with immediate success. Yet only a few years later, an unexpected opportunity changed everything.

While in second grade, she was discovered by actress and producer Marlo Thomas for a TV project. Jessica believes part of what made her memorable was the very thing that made her self-conscious: her voice.

At the time, she had a naturally raspy sound, was missing four front teeth, and had a personality that stood out. Those qualities landed her early opportunities, including an appearance in The Godfather Part III.

Ironically, the voice that helped launch her career was also something she personally struggled to accept.

“I was embarrassed by it,” Jessica admitted. Like many young performers, she worried about sounding different from everyone else. It wasn’t until she began booking voiceover work consistently that she realized her uniqueness wasn’t a weakness – it was her greatest asset.

The Call That Changed Everything

After years of working as a child actor, Jessica attended college while continuing to pursue acting opportunities. One callback would become a turning point.

She received an audition for Dumbo II through a phone patch session. Casting director Jamie Thomason initially thought the wrong Jessica had called in because her voice sounded so young.

In fact, Jessica was auditioning for a bear character, and Jamie reportedly thought he was speaking to an actual four-year-old.

That experience led to some career-changing advice: move to Los Angeles after graduation.

Jessica listened.

Within her first year in Los Angeles, she booked five animated pilots. Two of them were picked up as series.

For an actor trying to break into animation, it was a dream start.

A Full-Circle Moment with Tara Strong

Jessica’s first job after moving to Los Angeles was with Tara Strong.

Soon after, she found herself working on projects connected to some of the biggest names in animation. She remembers walking into Nickelodeon’s iconic Highland Avenue building and nearly fainting.

The walls were covered with artwork from shows like Rugrats and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters – the cartoons she had grown up watching.

“It felt unreal,” she recalled.

Tara shared one of her own memorable stories from The Rugrats Movie, about being brought in to record guide tracks for Baby Dill. Her performance was so convincing that a new mother working on the production reportedly began lactating during the session.

As Tara pointed out, those are the kinds of unexpected moments that only happen in animation.

How Jessica Builds a Character

When it comes to auditions, Jessica’s process is both intuitive and deliberate.

She looks for four key ingredients: character artwork or visual references, audition sides or script pages, information about the show, and context about the creative team behind it.

One factor matters more than almost anything else: tone.

If she can’t determine the tone of a project, she finds it difficult to make strong choices. Understanding the world a character lives in helps her understand how they should sound.

Her process usually begins with instinct.

Jessica records a first take based on her gut reaction, listens back, and then fine-tunes the performance based on the script. Sometimes, if something isn’t clicking, she walks away entirely and revisits it the next day with fresh ears.

For her, forcing a performance rarely produces the best result.

The Skill That Matters Most: Emotional Commitment

Jessica’s work as Flame Princess in Adventure Time demonstrates one of her core acting philosophies.

Because she was already familiar with the show, she understood Finn as a scene partner and immediately connected to the world. From there, she built the character around the idea of fire.

What makes the performance memorable is the emotional range.

Jessica explained that every sentence flickers emotionally. Her character might go from vulnerable to furious to heartbroken within moments. The challenge is committing completely to each emotional shift without hesitation.

One of her favorite examples comes from Flame Princess’s relationship with Finn, particularly the heartbreaking realization that fire and water are fundamentally incompatible.

The line, “We’re only gonna hurt each other,” is one of the quotes fans reference most often at conventions.

What Voice Acting Has Lost and Gained

Like many veteran performers, Jessica misses aspects of the industry’s earlier era.

She remembers days packed with back-to-back recording sessions in the studio from morning until night. Actors worked together in the same room, collaborated in real time, and received immediate feedback from directors.

Today’s recording sessions often look very different.

Many auditions and callbacks are recorded from home studios. Actors self-direct, often without live direction or immediate feedback. While technology has made voice acting more accessible than ever, it has also changed the day-to-day experience of the profession, with voice actors also working as sound engineers.

The Truth About Rejection

Perhaps the most valuable lesson Jessica shared with Voicelings was about rejection.

For seven years, she auditioned for Nickelodeon projects in LA without booking a single role.

Many aspiring actors would have taken that as a sign to quit

Instead, Jessica learned that casting is often about timing, relationships, and finding the right fit. A “no” rarely means someone isn’t talented enough. More often, it simply means the role wasn’t theirs.

Tara reinforced the same message: actors should focus on the opportunities that are right for them rather than internalizing every rejection.

The key is learning how to quiet the inner critic.

Jessica’s advice is simple: connect deeply to the character. When your attention is fully on the story and the person you’re portraying, self-consciousness fades into the background.

The Career Lesson Every Voice Actor Needs

Jessica DiCicco’s career is a reminder that success rarely comes from fitting in.

The raspy voice she once wanted to hide became the foundation of her career. The audition she was too scared to attend didn’t define her future. The years of rejection weren’t proof that she lacked talent.

They were simply part of the journey.

For aspiring voice actors, that’s the real takeaway: your differences are often your greatest strengths, rejection is rarely personal, and the qualities you’re most insecure about may be the unique magic that sets you apart in the industry.

Join the Next Voicelings Legends Live

Voicelings Access+ members are invited to Zoom calls hosted by Tara Strong featuring Hollywood legends such as Richard Horvitz, Ron Perlman, Kathleen Herles, and more.

Students can ask questions, get real industry advice, and hear what it’s actually like to work in voice-over and animation.

Join today for self-paced lessons, live events, AMAs, and access to an incredible voice acting community by Tara Strong.

‍

Watch the full Legends Live replay with Tara Strong and Jessica DiCicco: